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Monday, October 29, 2012

Politics overshadow African championship final

Next week’s
African Championship League final between crowned Cairo club Al Ahly SC and
Tunisian title defender Esperance Sportieve de Tunis is as much a battle of the
titans as it is a struggle for the future of Egypt.

At stake in
the November 4 match in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria's Borg
El-Arab Stadium, the first leg of the finals, is not only the African
championship title but also a gamut of highly political issues, including the
need for reform of law enforcement; the role of police and security forces in
ensuring security in stadiums; the relationship between the club, its players
and its fans; the right of fans to attend matches; and the campaign to remove
associates of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak from soccer and eradicate
corruption.

The match
will be the first to be played by Al Ahly in front of its fans who have been
banned from the few international and domestic matches that their club has
played since professional soccer in Egypt was suspended eight months ago after
74 Al Ahly fans were killed in Port Said in a politically loaded brawl. The
aftermath of the brawl looms large with militant, highly politicized, street
battle-hardened fan groups known as ultras opposing a resumption of
professional soccer as long as those responsible for the incident are not held
accountable and the supporters’ political demands have not been met.

The last
time Esperance played in Cairo in April 2011, two months after the ousting of
president Hosni Mubarak, militant supporters of Al Ahly rival Al Zamalek SC
stormed the pitch in what amounted to a reclaiming of the stadium from the
security forces, Egypt’s most hated institution because of their role in
enforcing the Mubarak regime’s repression. The storming marked the beginning of
a post-revolt campaign by the militants, Egypt’s second largest civic group
that played a key role in the protests that forced Mr. Mubarak to resign after
30 years in office, against the military and the law enforcement forces of the
interior ministry. The campaign demanded the removal of Mubarak era officials
and an end to corruption.

The
militants known as ultras have booked a string of political victories in recent
months in which they have attacked the offices of the Egyptian Football
Association (EFA), Al Ahly’s training ground and the premises of media
organizations. They have prevented a lifting of the ban on domestic soccer,
ironically supported by their archenemy, the security forces who fear renewed
clashes in the stadiums, the scene of years of often violent protests in the
run-up to the demise of the Mubarak regime. A string of Mubarak era officials
have been forced to resign or withdraw their candidacies for office and the Illegal
Gains Authority has banned the chairman of Al Ahly, Hassan Hamdi, from travel
and frozen his assets on suspicion of corruption.

The
militants are further demanding justice for their 74 dead colleagues before professional
soccer matches are resumed. They are frustrated with the slow progress in legal
proceedings against 74 people, including nine mid-level security officers,
accused of involvement in the Port Said brawl that is widely believed to have
been an attempt that got out of hand to punish the militants for their role in
the popular revolt and to cut them down to size. The militants also want the
security forces to be deprived of their responsibility for security in the
stadiums and want to see the initiation of a process of reform of the police
force.

A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Essam El-Erian,
this month publicly backed the militants, saying he agreed that premier league
soccer should remain suspended as long as the group that brought President
Mohammed Morsi to office is battling its political opponents. "The Ultras
were one of the most powerful forces to participate in last year's revolution. The
Premier League will only resume after the final whistle is blown on this
political match, which I hope ends in a draw," Mr. El-Erian said in a
tweet. Mr. El-Erian was referring to divisions over the drafting of a new
constitution and the judiciary’s failure to hold accountable officials
responsible for the death of protesters during last year’s anti-Mubarak
protests.

The
interior ministry threw down a gauntlet last week when it announced that 15,000
Al Ahly fans would be allowed to attend the match against Esperance. The
ministry’s decision came as players and fans held rival demonstrations for and
against a lifting of the ban on soccer.

Players and
fans clashed in early October in front of a Cairo hotel where Nigeria’s
Sunshine Stars were staying in advance of a game against Al Ahli. The Al Ahli
militants said they wanted to ensure that the Nigerian team made it safely to
the match. Four police officers and 13 Al Ahly fans were injured last week in a
clash between security forces and militants in front of a television station.

It was not
immediately clear whether the militants would use the match against Esperance
to press their demands or would boycott it in line with their opposition to a
resumption of soccer. The militants exempt international matches from their
rejection of a lifting of the ban on domestic premier league soccer. They have
also agreed to the resumption in late November of matches in Egypt’s lower
leagues.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile